analele universităţii - Facultatea de Limbi Straine - Dimitrie Cantemir

Hydropis(is) < Greek hydrops ‘dropsy, hydrops’ < hydropi - < (ultimate
stem) hudor ‘water’ ;
Academy< French académie or Latin academia < Gk. Akademia ( the
enclosed piece of ground, or ‘grove’ in Athens where Plato taught, named
after the Attic legendary mithological hero Akademos/ Hekademus ) ;
Atom < Gk. Atomos ‘that can not be divided’;
Diphtong < Lat. Diphtongus < Gk. Diphtongos (di + phthόngos ‘two +
sound, voice’);
Ecstasy < Old French extasie < Late Lat. Extasis < Gk. Ékstasis
‘driving out od one’s mind’ < existánai ‘displace, drive out of one’s mind’;
Harmony < Old French harmonie < Lat. Harmonia < Gk. Harmonia
‘means of putting togheter/ joining’, hence ‘agreement, concord’ < Gk.
Harmos ‘joint’;
Nymph < Gk. Númphe (originally ‘bride’ – Lat. Nubere ‘to take a
husband’);
Theatre < Old French theatre < Lat. Theatrum < Gk. Théatron ‘place
of viewing’ < theasthai ‘to watch, to look at, to view’;
When two different languages have contact over a certain period of
time they will surely influence each other. Words might be taken over from
one language and are adopted to the other. This process is called
borrowing. Throughout its long history English had contact with many
different languages such as Old Norse, French, and Latin, but also with
many colonial laguages.
The reasons for a language such as English to borrow words from
other languages are manifold. Francis Katamba remarks in this context
that there is no purely linguistic reason for borrowing. According to him
no limit exists to the number of words that can be generated in any
language. But still, whenever the need for a new term arises, due to the
contact between people from different cultures, the formation of a
neologism, composed f the elements of the own language, is only rarely
done. One reason for borrowing a suitable word from another language is
the need to find a term for an unfamiliar thing, animal, or cultural device.
Then borrowing seems to be the easiest solution to this problem.
The enrichment of the lexical stock of the language has also been done,
in addition to introducing new words, by appealing to the native sources;
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